We asked the Department about how it measured the quality of benefit decisions, why it did not publish more information on the performance of contractors given the potential impact of their decisions on the lives of claimants, and about difference in satisfaction levels between the Department and Social Security Scotland. Social Security Scotland is starting to manage a wider range of benefits in Scotland, including a PIP replacement benefit – the adult disability payment. The most recent annual civil service employment survey shows that staff at Social Security Scotland generally view how it is operating more positively compared to the Department’s staff. For example, the leadership and managing change theme for the Department in 2022 is 49.9 compared to Social Security Scotland of 67.4, a 17.5 percentage point difference.28 The Department told us that it worked closely with colleagues in Social Security Scotland and that it intended to learn from it given that Social Security Scotland was “trying different things” in how it administered a similar benefits system.29 Working with contractors